Brooke Jones April 11, 2014 Prison- ARCH 180 -Unit Reflection 3 Villanelle of Solitary Confinement Their shouts

are a blur of rage-saturated sound 1 A pressure slowly builds in my breast I collapse finding refuge on the ground Nothing peaceful to be found
Only violence to express

Under the steady drumming background of a terrifying pound I am frightened of the hound No space to flee this mounting stress The echoes continue to resound The victors will be crowned In this mental battle waged that tests Leaving bodies limp and lifeless in a mound Hopes and dreams swallowed and drowned You are awash in pure nothingness 2 Blanketed by emptiness of purpose, of meaning, of soul around The only option is to transgress and protest Or alternatively obsess and regress As the regrets compound Contributing the complex state of the continually oppressed *ARTIST STATEMENT: This poem is mean to evoke the tensions and anxieties that come from being in the violent physical and mental combative space which is solitary confinement. It hopes to paint a picture of the constant internal conflict over the response to fight or flee into the depths of ones own inner turmoil. *GRADE: 93

Rhodes, Lorna A. Total Confinement: Madness and Reason in the Maximum Security Prison Controlling Troubles. University of California Press, Berkeley. 2004. Print. Pg. 22.
2

Abbott, Jack Henry. In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison. The Hole: Solitary Confinement. Vintage

Books: A Division of Random House, Inc. New York. 1982. Print. Pg 45. Jack Henry Abbott gained praise for his writings by notable literary critics such as Norman Mailer. Following a short six week release, he committed suicide upon returned to prison. The line used in this poem you are awash in pure nothingness is taken from his writings from prison prior to his last release.